Verde Island Passage

The Verde Island Passage is the stretch of water separating southern Luzon from Mindoro, and marine scientists in 2006 called it the centre of the centre of marine shorefish biodiversity, across some 1.14 million hectares of water - the richest concentration of coastal fish species documented anywhere, inside the wider Coral Triangle. For divers that translates into walls and drop-offs draped in soft coral and gorgonians, current-swept pinnacles that gather schooling fish, and the famous Verde Island wall itself, a sheer face off the small island in mid-channel usually run as a drift with tuna, jacks and turtles working the blue. Anilao dives it from the Luzon side, Puerto Galera from Mindoro, and day boats meet in the middle. The passage is also a working shipping lane and the subject of continuous conservation effort, since the same water carries tankers, fisheries feeding millions of people and coastal development. Divers get one of the world's great reef systems; the region gets an argument about how to keep it.

Highlights

• The Verde Island wall - the mid-channel drop-off drift dive.
• The soft coral gardens - gorgonians and fans on the slopes.
• The schooling fish - jacks, tuna and reef aggregations.
• The biodiversity - the densest shorefish species list known.

When to go

November to May for the calmest crossings and best visibility; currents run strong year-round and dictate dive timing. Book with operators who plan around the tides.

Practical notes

Currents here are serious - several sites are advanced-only drifts. Crossings can be rough. Non-divers see the passage mainly from a ferry deck.

Nearby

Anilao's macro sites, Puerto Galera's beaches and Batangas port's ferry routes all sit on the passage.

Key facts